


Sanctuary

by Arnie



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 10:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13657548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arnie/pseuds/Arnie
Summary: Jim focussed on the thing pursuing them. Shockingly, impossibly, it was closer.





	Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Stargatesg1971's amazing artwork [Do You Hear What I Hear?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13624578)
> 
> For my Sentinel Bingo square "stormy night".

Jim slowed and turned. He ignored Blair's hands as they clutched at him and filtered out the sobbing pants that betrayed how freaked out Blair was. Instead, Jim focussed on the thing pursuing them. Shockingly, impossibly, it was closer.

Giving himself a shake, Jim swung around and forced himself to keep going up the hill. The house loomed ahead of them, towering above them like something out of a nightmare, but it offered sanctuary. If nothing else, they'd be out of sight, hidden. Like prey animals hoping the predator would pass them by.

Did the thing have a sense of smell? Jim had to think it didn't - not when its own stink of decaying flesh was so overwhelming it was making Blair gag. Jim had already dialled down his sense of smell, and a tiny portion of his mind was distractedly wondering if Blair was envious. If he was, he needn't be. Jim's other senses were working over time, and Jim couldn't turn them all off. Hearing was the worst. There was a wet undertone to the footsteps, a sucking squelch to every movement that reminded Jim of his one encounter with quicksand. For all its innocuous looks, it had been surprisingly hard to escape as it tried to pull Jim back, pull him down, and smother his cries with a clinging gritty moistness that made him feel he'd never be clean again.

The thing behind them promised more of the same.

Jim blinked and shook his head as rain ran into his eyes. His sense of touch felt off as well. The raindrops felt sharp, almost stinging, like tiny barbs implanting in his quivering flesh.

"Jim?" Blair's eyes were wide and full of fear.

Grabbing the back of Blair's jacket, Jim hurried him on. "Keep moving."

Stopping wasn't an option.

They rounded the corner and were facing the house at last. The blinds were down in all the windows but the door was open, like a gaping maw ready to devour them.

Jim yanked Blair to a stop. It was wrong, it was all wrong. There was a heartbeat ahead of them; deep, echoing, and thrumming with excitement.

It was the house.

Blair gave him a terrified look and Jim flicked a glance to the high wrought iron railings to the left of them. There was no sanctuary here - Blair's only chance lay in escape.

"When I say 'go', run, then up and over."

Blair's eyes turned confused but he nodded.

"Go!"

They fled to the left, ignoring the furious screech from the house. Jim's longer legs meant he reached the railings a fraction ahead. He turned and cupped his hands for Blair's foot, then pushed him as high as he could.

Blair scrambled up, then got his leg over, somehow managing to hook his foot around a rail and steady himself. "Jump!"

Jim leaped. He doubted he could reach the top without the thing dragging him back, but Blair's hand caught his. Blair threw himself back and Jim was pulled higher, then up and over with the momentum of Blair's weight. The ground raced to meet him, and Jim tucked and rolled. He straightened up in time to see the railings shake and bend with the force of the thing's impact.

Blair scuttled back towards Jim, almost crab-like, and Jim yanked him up to his feet. Together, they backed away down the slope. The railings shook and thunder rumbled as the thing raged at them but they were beyond its reach now.

"It didn't touch you, did it?"

Jim shook his head as he cast a look over Blair. The kid was shaking with reaction and a side serving of shock. "I didn't think I'd make it out." How Blair had managed to squat on those railings was a mystery.

"I wasn't leaving you behind." Blair looked back up the slope. "You think our missing guy went in there?"

"If he did, he's never coming out." Jim sighed. "C'mon, Chief, let's go home."

The end.


End file.
